jUsT a tHoUgHt cRoSsiNg mY MiNd...

I 've been having really cool times reading and taking time to do things I often have no time to do when we have so much work to do on the land...the main reason is because it has been raining "cats and dogs" (funny English expression) throughout the whole week... which is actually good for our trees and garden...and for us to take a rest :-)... I love living with natural seasons, eh, eh...
one of the things I'm able to do more often is to read through some e.mails and some good books... as Maren said, "when it rains, we get wiser", eh, eh, eh... so I got this e.mail where some Christians were "adopting a terrorist" to pray for...Hummm...interesting... but then I had a funny thought..."it would be nice if we would adopt some christians as well :-)"

One of the books I devoured , and I highly recommend it to anyone (though I warn you that it will kick you in the but), was the " Irresistible revolution "
by Shane "something" (sorry, I'm bad with names...he's a cool ordinary radical anyway)... he was in Iraq during the war...he's from the USA by the way (yes, there are still radicals in America)... while he attended a prayer meeting with some Iraqi brothers and sisters (yes, there are Christians in Iraq), one bishop said to him "we will be praying for you. We will be praying for the church in the USA...to be the church"... Wow... so maybe my thought has some reason... We should be praying more for our brothers and sisters (including ourselves) to be the church... to really be followers of Christ and stand for what Jesus stood for... or not stand for what He never stood for (like war for instance)...

I often think about a passage in Hosea 4:1-9...

"1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites,
because the LORD has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
"There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3 Because of this the land dries up,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea are swept away.

4 "But let no one bring a charge,
let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
who bring charges against a priest.

5 You stumble day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother—

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
"Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.

7 The more the priests increased,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.

8 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.

9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds."

So I always wonder when Christians "point the finger" to "the sinners" in this world...
Isn't it our fault?!! Aren't we "God's priesthood" the ones to point the finger at?!!!

Are we playing our role on earth?!!! Are we taking care of the poor?!! Actually, are we living with the poor?!!!
Are we seeking for justice on earth?!!! Are we not conformed to the patterns of this world?!!!
Are we living lives worthy of bearing God's name?!!!
we are not perfect I know... we'll surely never be in this body... but are we willing to be broken, vulnerable, humble, graceful ,  transformed ?!!! recognising our own failures and constant need of God's mercy and grace ?!!!
Who are we to blame but ourselves, the church?!!!
should we pray more for "terrorists" or for the church to actually be the church?!!!
it's good to pray for "terrorists", but should we pray for ourselves first, that we look differently to any "terrorist"?!!!
Didn't Jesus said to love our enemies?!!! Didn't He make friendship with "terrorists"?!!! think about Paul for instance...Hummm!!! he killed a lot of folks I'm sure of that... but didn't he brought many to life as well?!!! Do we still believe in redemption ?!!!

There was another quote from Shane's book I really liked...it was actually a friend of him who smokes a lot of weed who said this...
" 'Jesus never talked to a prostitute because he didn't see a prostitute. He just saw a child of God He was madly in love with'... When we have new eyes, we can look into the eyes of those we don't even like and see the One we love...we are free to imagine a revolution that sets both the oppressed and the oppressors free."

O.K, just to finish, I'll add another quote from that book , this one was said by Saint Augustine
"the church is a whore, but she's my mother."

"The revolution begins inside each of us, and through little acts of Love, it will take over the world. Let us begin to be christians again. Jesus, give us the courage" (Shane)

I'm left with this prayer:

I wanna pray more... for myself, to be who you created me to be...

for the church to be the church...

for this decaying world to be redeemed ...

For us all to know the depths of your Grace...
Let your Kingdom come Father,
on earth , as it is in Heaven.
Let your will be done.

Amen